TOWN OF THOMPSON, NY — The sudden spurt of activity at the corner of Kaufman Road and 17B in the Town of Thompson must have jolted people on their morning commute, or folks driving in from New York City. Suddenly, trees were gone. Rumors flew. Questions sparked in social media.

It turned out that BBIS, an auto auction company, intended to use the property as an auction yard, collecting cars for resale, probably in an online market.

Although onlookers were taken by surprise, the project had been working its way through the Thompson planning process since 2018.

“The planning board had a long review process,” said supervisor Bill Rieber in a recent interview. There were multiple meetings. The zoning—commercial/industrial—was appropriate.

“[The plan] was extensively reviewed by NYSDOT [state department of transportation], DEC [Department of Environmental Conservation] and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers,” he said. A state general municipal law (GML) 239 review was conducted by the county planning department.

You can trace the development of the project on the town’s website. It gives a sense of how complicated a project can be, and maybe an idea of the line that planning boards walk between the concern for aesthetics and the need for businesses.

Seeds of development

When Orange County-based Engineering & Surveying Properties (E&SP) first approached the board with the project in 2018, they planned to buy 100 acres, add a buffer and add an access road to Kaufman Road. An easement wasn’t possible then, according to Zachary Szabo from E&SP a year later.

During the process, access from 17B and the aesthetics of the site dominated the discussion at the planning board level, and the state Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) had additional concerns.

That agency weighed in about federally regulated wetlands and listed the permits required. The land was in a floodplain; what would happen to stormwater drainage? Were there endangered animals involved?

The design was reworked and an extra 68 acres of land was purchased to resolve potential traffic problems.

The county planning department was consulted; GML 239 requires that certain planning and zoning actions be reviewed. Reviews have to be requested by a municipality and type-of-action and location criteria have to be met.

Special use permits and site plan approvals (as were required with the BBIS project) are two types of action. A parcel boundary within 500 feet of a state or county road would fulfill the location criterion.

The 239-referral process ensures that nearby municipalities and county agencies are aware of projects that might affect them. Such as—random example—the fact that the project is on 17B on the way to Bethel Woods, a prime tourist destination. So screening the auction cars from the road would be important.

“The most effective screening mimics and extends the surrounding natural vegetation,” said Sullivan planning commissioner Freda Eisenberg, “and includes a mix of coniferous and deciduous trees, as well as shrubs and groundcover.”

Public hearing and final design

At the October 28, 2020 planning board meeting and public hearing, Ross Winglovitz from E&SP described the latest revision of the project.

Planned to be built over three phases, the auto auction business would include an 8,300 square-foot office building for 20 workers, 50 acres of vehicle storage (for, ultimately, 11,000 cars; 5,000 to start with) and several ponds for stormwater storage.

Access was now via a curve to be cut from Kaufman Road.

The public hearing was held open for 10 days, and at the next planning board meeting (December 9, 2020), members had additional questions and the design had been tweaked further. Planning board member Helen Budrock asked for extra trees to be planted around the stormwater-management area and between the parking lot and Kaufman Road. Then-chairman Lou Kiefer wanted to know what happened to fluids in the cars. (In a damaged car, they’re drained before the car gets to the site; otherwise, nothing happens to the car once it’s at the auction yard, Winglovitz said.)

A 10,000-gallon underground fiberglass storage tank was planned to address an issue from one of the fire departments; the tank would be located outside the property’s fence so would be accessible if there were a fire.

A setback had been added to protect the well for a mobile home nearby.

As of January, 2022, the project is progressing. Trees have come down; more trees and shrubs are being planted to screen the autos and the stormwater ponds.

It may have looked like the BBIS auto auction project had materialized overnight. Not true, said Rieber. “The process was long, it was thorough, it was vetted.”